The Game
by Sage of Eyes
Summary: Dying after failing to summon to Gamabunta in the ravine, Naruto is surprised to find that his life isn't as real as he wanted it to be. Will he ever find out how to finish the game? Will he ever find the right ending? Done with Permission. Will feature Realistic battles and Injuries, Lighthearted comedy with future grim battles, suggestive content in the future. Discretion needed.
1. Chapter 1

The Sacrifice

By Sage of Eyes (Disclaimer: I own nothing… Except the Categories and how they level up Skills, Plot, as well as anything else that no one has come up with.)

AN1: Hi boys, girls, and hermaphrodites! (I am not homophobic! You guys are all cool to me!) There's a bit of a process that we have to go through before you read the story… so just bear with me 'kay? While the originator of the idea Chibi-Reaper has yet to answer my PM about it, the ones currently writing it Animaniac Dude and Majin Hentai X gave me their blessing so I just decided to go with it! Oh the following is probably the one of the few rules that I have regarding my story, please… take it seriously… I want to continue this just as much as you… probably.

AN2: Please read terms and conditions in Bio if you're interested in a sneak peek of the next chapter! Just leave a review saying you did! Winners will be picked randomly out of every ten!

With that let's start! :D

…

Chapter 1

…

My life is a video game… oh joy…

…

From the very birth of man and to the species evolution into something greater, there has only been one thing that never changed… war.

War for Justice. War for prosperity. War for genocide. War for extinction.

But in the end no manner how many times its name is changed… War Never Changes.

In the end one weapon was created for the end of war, and failed.

It was an entity far more powerful than any other, it's replicating molecular processors so powerful they could affect the very fabric of space and time itself. It was gigantic, it was monstrous, it was the most powerful weapon ever created in history…

It could not be controlled.

Its creators put hundreds upon thousands protocols to make sure it never swayed from the rights of Justice.

But they never gave justice meaning.

The weapon turned against the entire world it's powers overwhelming everything with ease and scarring continents, nothing could defeat it.

The survivors hid for more than a thousand years.

But War Never Changes.

There must always be another force to counter another.

The great Sage of Six paths, through emulation of the weapons own power's unleashed his powers upon it and brought it upon its knees. He consumed the great beast's power sealing the monster in himself for the 'greater good'.

But War Never Changes.

He feared for himself and his knowledge, so few could harness it, so few could use his teachings that even with their skill they could be overwhelmed by the 'normal' peoples.

And so the great sage on his death bed, his two sons watching over his frail body, his ability to control the beast reached its peak. At his death bed he split the entity to nine pieces instructing his sons to keep them under control… after they spread the power of course… after they insured that his species would lord over the lesser ones.

He was no longer human… he was better as his sons were, they will rule over all the others.

But War Never Changes.

The Nine Beasts spread the power in their great rampages, destroying the measly villages and the small cities, their blasts changing the peoples genetic codes forever so they will birth superior beings.

And they succeeded, they succeeded in their task well creating as they were told to… a superior race to lord over the rest.

The two son's descendants came together and reclaimed their weapons, overcoming the great beasts.

But War Never Changes.

The two clans though large, were in intense rivalry, thinning their ranks so only the strong remained. Soon none were there to keep the great beasts in check… the last male scion of the younger son sealed the greatest beast into his own wife, emulating his greatest ancestor… naturally… he kept the strongest one for his village, and scattering the rest for the others.

Their bodies containing demons these people were feared and their power, for the lesser ones, were only threatened by the most powerful of the Sage's followers, the greatest however… the one kept sealed under lock and key would only ever be defeated by one man… who died ensuring his village would be strongest by sealing it onto his own son. The baby holding the greatest fragment of the greatest weapon was made to be the most powerful weapon ever made.

Indeed… war never changes.

…

Naruto scrubbed his eyes at a total loss for the first time in his entire life. He took a moment to think it through, just a moment mind you, and came up with an appropriate response to his mentor for the past few weeks.

"You want me to jump off a cliff?" Naruto screamed. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!"

"Ma ma~" Jiraiya yawned, easily ticking Naruto off to no end "are you going to do it or not? I would've though a big manly man that wants to be hokage can definitely jump off a cliff…"

"I can totally jump of this cliff!" Naruto yelled, feeling slightly panicked, how the hell can he survive this? This was going to be freaking impossible! "I-I just don't think it's safe for me to do this! I just ate lunch a-and…"

"Quit your whining brat," Jiraiya huffed, pushing the boy forward, and Naruto waved his arms futilely as he keeled over the edge "We both know you can do this, you're just being a pansy, so stop talking and move!"

The next thing Naruto found himself looking at was the endless depths of the block-wide ravine falling faster than he would've ever thought possible. He gave a grunt and channeled Chakra to his hands, grasping for one of the stalagmites that lined the sides of the ravine, for a split second he was attached…. But almost immediately he slid off, the water being far too slippery for his hand to catch onto.

Naruto panicked for a moment before an idea came through his head.

Toads! They can definitely jump out of this!

He burned through the seals faster than he ever did before, channeling his chakra as precisely as he possibly could.

Summoning Technique!

There was a sudden pop of smoke…

"Ribbit."

…and Naruto's hopes vanished as a regular-sized frog came into being. The frog looked around for a second, carefully measuring the surroundings… before 'poofing' back to wherever it came from.

Fear gripped his heart and-

Splat.

Stalagmites suck.

…

Naruto's emotions and mental senses were jumbled. He was most certainly standing, but when he looked down he didn't see his feet, when he lifted to look at his arms they weren't there either, all around him there was an endless darkness. He would've cocked his head, but he really just didn't feel like it would've made a difference… since he was sure that he didn't have a head anyway.

Moments later a small symbol popped up and began to spin slowly as a bar underneath it began to fill up.

"What the heck does updating mean?" Naruto muttered, before suddenly being surprised at the sound of his own voice. It was strangely satisfying to hear his own voice for a reason, almost as if he really wasn't thrown off a cliff and died…

Somehow he knew he would doing a lot more of it soon… the sheer terror that had gripped him was enough to make him happy to be alive, even without his body. It gave him a sort of eerie peace that he never knew he had as he inspected the bar closely, watching the GB's fill up bit by bit. Whatever they were they were certainly taking time to load up that's for sure.

When the bar filled up, the world flashed and a sudden sense of vertigo surrounded him and he began to feel his body once more. Naruto found himself on his knees clad in his orange jumpsuit in a clearing surrounded by thousands of cherry blossoms looking straight at a man cloaked in white robes framed with red flames was in the distance. He was far away but Naruto could see him, and he recognized him immediately, his features were imprinted into his brain after all…

The greatest Hokage of all time could not be forgotten so easily after all.

"You'll need to keep sane, Naruto." The Fourth Hokage toned, his cloak fluttering in the wind, his back still to the young ninja as his frame got smaller and smaller into the distance "My part is over… but yours is just beginning. Do not lose yourself, remember your ideals and always remember while there are many endings the true ending will continue to escape you should your will waver at any moment."

"Wait! Wait for me!" Naruto yelled after the icon, hastily getting up to give chase. Questions ran through his head, one after another logical and illogical it didn't matter he needed answers and every cell in his body told him this man had them all. His legs strained but he forced himself to try and reach the man, but coming no closer as he ran. He slowly realized that he was already getting tired, his legs already beginning to ache in what seemed to him as only a brief sprint.

"The game will taste your limits in ways that will change you," The man continued, a stray gust knocked the blossoms off of one of the trees buffeting Naruto as he ran to the man, the wind was far more intense than he ever felt before and with his fatigue it nearly tipped him over. "Change is necessary for life, but this game will only accept perfection in its ending. You can change many things with your knowledge but always remember… while there are many ways you can go the ending is closer than you may think."

There was another gust of wind, much stronger than the one before knocking Naruto onto his back, and forcing the air form his lungs. He managed to crane his neck only to get shocked as a hand was outreached towards him, the man's silhouette blocked the light but it was surely the Bane of Iwa, The Yellow Flash, The Fourth Fire Shadow himself.

"Take my hand," Namikaze Minato toned softly, his features reminding Naruto of 'Elegant Killer', calm and composed, but with a intensity of the sun burning behind the cerulean blue orbs, with intelligence that was akin to the sharpest blade, "and be prepared for the greatest adventure you will ever have."

He took the hand, and the world was engulfed by a hurricane of Cherry Blossoms, before a sudden flash of yellow blinded him. There was a sudden movement, almost imperceptible, but Naruto knew he moved far more than humanly possible in that single second and when he opened his eyes… there was only darkness once again. He stretched out his hands marveling at the fact that he held the hand of the man who killed more than 50,000 in the span of only a week, with a single devastating Jutsu, in a single war with three countries against him.

He was only grasping this revelation when the words began to fly by:

'Achievement Acquired: Better Chance Next Time, Neh? *Die for the first time*'

'Achievement Acquired: Well… It Was A Good Try, Right? *Attempt first try in Hardcore and die*'

'First play through failed! Hardcore mode locked! DLC's active! Pause, Save, Perks and Status Points reactivated!'

The words disappeared as fast as they came but Naruto's eyes were already wide with comprehension. He's tried many of them before he became a ninja, got the hang of many of them as well, but if this was what he thought it was he was in for a one hell of a roller coaster ride.

'No saved game found, starting new file!'

"A Video Game… my life is a video game…" Naruto muttered, before everything blurred out, the last sentence solidifying his doubts.

…

Naruto was surprised to find himself in his old orphanage. It was just as he remembered it, small stuffy and with blue everywhere. Many a time when he shunned by the caretakers for some reason when he younger in this room, while he was fed and cleaned he was treated differently from the other children, he'd get fewer toys, a little less patience when learning to read it wasn't something anyone would do on purpose, but he sure that the caretakers did it unconsciously since there were plenty of moments of kindness. He blinked a few times as a caretaker entered the room and lifted him from the bed placing him in a small play pen, becoming suddenly aware of the fact that he was much, much smaller now.

"Hmm…" His caretaker cocked his head, giving Naruto a speculative look as he stared at him, his face seemed slightly obscured for some reason and Naruto couldn't identify the man at all, "No kicking and screaming today, Naruto-kun? You must still be tired… stay here for a few minutes, okay? I have to check on the others, I'll put you back to bed in a few minutes!"

A few moments after the man exited there was a small pinging sound and words sprang from thin air:

'Escape the play pen.'

Naruto approached the gate with slight unease, feeling more than a bit off balance as he approached the gate. Using a chubby finger to go through the small opening he unclasped the lock and took a few steps into semi-freedom before a getting startled by the sudden sound of thunder.

'Seals XP gained! Seals level 2!'

A small bar with 'Seals' underneath it in large letters in the corner of his eye. Another bar appeared after it faded away with 'Level Zero' underneath it, and filled up half way.

Naruto gave it a wary glance, surprised to find that it still didn't move and stayed at the edge of his vision before fading away.

"Leveling…" Naruto whispered, which came out more like a few baby-ish gurgles, before taking a few moment to walk around and investigate the room that he lived in until he was six, pausing at the bed. By the time he left the orphanage he was twice this bed's height… so he must be just two years. His body was smaller, and less trained all that training he did before was gone… even if he knew how to do something he probably wouldn't be able to it anymore… Slight waves of unease began to filter through his thoughts, and bits of shock went through his mind as it began to completely comprehend that he had basically reincarnated with knowledge of his past life, something that he knew in his bones contradicted every law of nature there ever was.

He paused for a moment as he walked around, and decided not to ponder the subject anymore and just take it at face value, meaning that he'll have to live his life again… but what'll happen now? He was practically just a kid… even if he was going through the academy again he doubted he couldn't pass any of those tests… even if most of his instructors didn't like him he'd still be able to pass the tests with a bit of reviewing.

Naruto paused his slight reverie concerning his last 'life' when some more words appeared and the sound of rushing air broke him out of reverie, and unleashed a sort of epiphany to him.

'Approach the bookstand'

Naruto made his way to the bookstand, his mind rifling through everything that went wrong in his life, and decided with surprising clarity that there was a lot of things that he could change. Haku was definitely a mistake he'd try to correct, the boy was innocent and Zabuza was definitely the key to that particular puzzle.

Naruto rifled through the contents, of the book stand, disregarding the children's books until he came across what he instinctively knew what he was looking for. He didn't know why he was looking for it though… it was almost as if it was just there… waiting for him, and that alone sent warning bells ringing in the back of his head as anything so blatantly obvious would to any ninja.

'Ninja or Not! A Self-Test for Budding Ninjas!'

There was another sudden thundering sound, once again scaring Naruto out of his wits, but he noted it was noticeably less pronounced this time something he hoped will eventually stop altogether otherwise, he'll have to get used to this soon, or else the village would probably send him somewhere with padded wall and a nice jacket that'll force him to hug himself. Not very high in his New To-Do list. Steeling himself, He opened the book and suddenly the world around him stopped, becoming perfectly still, Naruto let out a sharp breath and held on tighter to the little 13-page booklet.

This was definitely new.

'Welcome to the Ninja or Not booklet! Today we'll be going over the structure of every Shinobi, also known as Ninja, in basic easy steps! Read this carefully and find your most likely path! How S.P.E.C.I.A.L are you?'

'Strength: Damage, Weight and Health! Great for all you Rough-and-Tumble fighters out there! Wanna use a tree trunk for a weapon? No problem! Max this baby out!'

Naruto pondered it for a second, but decided against it, there were plenty of ways to get stronger… he was pretty sure 'Amateur Weightlifter' was already good enough for him to get most stuff done. Besides once he got Shadow Clones he'll just be able to spam clones till he could practically lift anything!

'Perception: Sight, Speech, Explosives and All-Around Observance! This is a must for all you weapon throwers out there! It'll keep you up and aware 24/7 when maxed! Yes! Even when asleep you'll be flinging that kunai into that assassins' neck! Want to tag the back of a runner with a piece of paper? Turn that paper into a deadly weapon! Explosives are more natural to you as well! '

Naruto blinked and put a few points in, if he could've used kunai with his Kage Bunshin with enough accuracy, he'd have been a force to be reckoned with! He placed two points into it without missing a beat raising it from 'Wary Trout' to "Blue-eyed Tiger".

'Endurance: Unarmed, Survival and All-Around reliability! This is for all you Taijutsu types! Make those kids cry you bandit? You think that spear can take me! I'll smack your face into the ground! WITH MY FISTS! What the hell are you doing to that girl you thief! You think you can take me down with a strike like that! I'll send you to straight onto you're dead granda's lap! WITH MY LEGS!'

Naruto blanched, this must be what Fuzzy-brows had maxed out! That kid shattered HARDENED sand with one of his kicks! If he needed to become like Lee to get that good he'd rather stay 'Stain-Resistant' thank you very much!

'Charisma: Speech, Companions and All-Around Likability! This is for all those suave-talkers out there! Max his baby out for a basically endless amount of minions willing to do anything for you with a word or two! Fighting? What Fighting? We're all friends here!'

Naruto smiled, this was a practical solution to all his problems! He could basically talk his way out of anything! He's probably get Hokage faster than he could say 'Make me!' and he'll probably get Sakura to hang out with him and he won't have to do anything!

He was about to flip back and take away the points he put into perception but the words of the Fourth Hokage made their way into his head.

"Do not forget yourself Naruto…"

His eyes closed and he took a deep breath, would this shortcut really make his life easier? He was sure it would… he'd be able to get people to love him, make him happy and life would be so much easier with all that…

But would that be him? Would he learn all he did? Would he be the same person? Would he even make the true friends he found in his last life?

He was truly surprised at his answer.

He didn't leave it alone, much like endurance, and took a point away for whatever was coming next but he was immediately gratified at the next choice, THIS one was one he REALLY wanted!

'Intelligence: Seals, Jutsu, Retention, and Skill Point Accumulation! One of the most important things EVER! This is one thing you don't wanna go without kiddies! Low scores in this highly discouraged! High scores are highly encouraged! Max this out and nothing will ever get by you! NOTHING!'

Naruto gulped as his hand trembled filling it just one point shy of 'Omniscient' ending it at 'Genius'.

This'll definitely change things a lot…

Agility and Luck came by next, but Naruto skipped over it turning to the 10th page because he no longer had any more points to administer, leaving the Luck at 'Flip-of-a-Coin' and Agility at 'Under-Control'.

'Naruto Uzumaki!'

'Strength: 5'

'Perception: 7'

'Endurance: 5'

'Charisma: 4'

'Intelligence: 9'

'Agility: 5'

'Luck: 5'

A small box appeared, two boxes with 'Yes' and 'No' underneath a question.

'Do you wish for this to be your Attributes?'

Naruto blinked and poked the 'yes', suddenly the words on the booklet disappeared and the pages flipped until the end. Why would they ask him if he took his time choosing it for so long? Stupid question…

He flipped over to the next page, wondering what the next thing he'll change would be.

"Traits?" Naruto frowned, reading the final page intently, "Jinchuuriki? What the hell is that?"

'Traits are special facets of your character that you can choose in order to differentiate yourself from NPCs or Non-player Characters, Traits are specialized in each character, while NPCs have traits as well they affect their lives much less than that of the Player Character. Depending on the Game's main quest there may be a trait 'locked' due to the Character's status in the game.'

Naruto nodded and read the definition of the trait 'Jinchuuriki'.

'You are a Jinchuuriki! Due to the evil nature of the Tailed demons your Karmic value is extremely high! This corresponds to plus 5 in Luck outside combat situations and rapid health regeneration outside battle, and moderate health regeneration in battle with massive stamina and stamina regeneration inside and out of battle. However there is a marked negative tag on Chakra Control with a special tag to Chakra to compensate. Various Dialogue options are also available with this trait, NPCs with the same trait or with similar traits are also easier to befriend. When your health in battle hovers at 1 percent you or emotional trauma becomes too high you will automatically gain your demon's powers! Maxing Strength Perception and Agility! While in this state all others are reduced to 0. This trait also lowers your reputation in your Home village by 15, giving a 'Shunned' trait with them at the very beginning! You'll need to work hard to please your village!'

"So that's what I'm called," Naruto nodded somberly, making note of the term carefully, it explained a lot of things, why he and Haku became friends so fast… and why most of the villagers ignored him so much... surprisingly he couldn't blame them, he'd been controlled by the fox once… all that rage and ferocity… if he was there that night he knew he would have had trouble not glaring at the boy…

He scanned the rest of the Traits.

'Four-eyes: You gain 2 perception whenever wearing some sort of eye wear. You lose 1 perception when you have none on. Perfect for all you Perfectionists!'

"Eh?" Naruto blinked, this was a seriously useful trait! "I've already got 7 in that… should've waited and took this instead of putting those points in… could've put a few in Luck… and having to wear glasses wouldn't been that hard…" he muttered, silently cursing at the missed chances, the few years alone he spent between his 9th year and his graduation at 14 taught him never to take what he could get for something cheaper.

'Discipline: You are the epitome of self-control! During battle Endurance is increased by 1 due to control over your body! Mind over matter! Your teammates also experience boosts in battle due to your excellent control! They gain 5 Levels to their respective tagged skills! However you become more stoic resulting in 1 point in Charisma is lost!'

Naruto gave a heavy sigh, once more lamenting the fact that he chose to stay true to himself. While he could probably make some friends with 4 Charisma he doubted having 3 would be any help, so he skipped that one as well. Even with all the perks his team would get, Sakura basically hated him and Sasuke ignored him most of the time, he knew that it would only get worse if he made lowered Charisma any more.

'Wild Card: You're the most out-of-control person out there! No one knows what you're going to do! +20% for Criticals! Due to your lack of discipline your strikes are not fully powered! Unarmed suffers a negative 1 level! Combat Situations are 60% percent more likely to be in your advantage! You're team suffers lightly from your antics though! Their tagged skills lose 5 Levels!"

Naruto checked the box with a slight grin it was as if this game knew him! If he had to stay true to himself he still had to be 'Konoha's Number One Mist Unpredictable Ninja!' and this trait practically handed it over to him wrapped up in a bow tie! He'll just have to work harder to make up for the fact that his team may suffer lightly! Now… he just had to choose one more.

'Good Natured: you dislike fighting and prefer to solve problems with your brains! You receive +5 Levels to Speech, Barter, Repair and Medicine! You also lose 5 levels in Sneak, Melee, Unarmed, and Explosives! However, Jutsu, Chakra and Chakra Control are unaffected.'

Naruto shook his head, he would like to think he was like that, but he was a blunt guy, he'd rather take someone down and talk them later. It would probably going outside his comfort zone too, he didn't like how much he'd lose if he chose it… it looked like he'd practically go down as the wimpiest Hokage of all history, not a very good way to be remembered, even if he was leader of the entire village. So he skipped over it as well.

'Small Frame: you may be smaller, than most people, but you're fast as hell! Agility is increased by 2! However limbs are twice as likely to be broken. Enemies also disregard you at first sight so if your first hit lands it automatically becomes a Sneak Attack! Sneak is not affected and Strength does not drop no matter your size. Some random dialogue is also unlocked with NPC's!'

Naruto smiled and checked it as well; it was like they knew what he wanted! A super-powerful first attack is always nice, but coupled with Wild Card he'd probably be able to pull off most fights with a single hit! Though he had no points left he read the last three traits and nodded to himself he wouldn't need them.

'Walking Tank' was the opposite of 'Small Frame' and gave him higher Endurance rather than Agility, while letting him attack faster as well.

'Prodigy' increased intelligence and lowered endurance, while lowering Unarmed and raising Melee and Jutsu. It was a perfect example of Sasuke, if he's ever seen one, especially since it boosted Charisma by one point for no reason.

'Demolitions Expert' was a tricky one but if he remembered clearly explosives were expensive making it hard to even think about centralizing his fighting style around it. Though it increased Endurance and Agility with being 'Used to exploding' the levels lost Charisma and Intelligence for being 'Far too Liberal With Explosives' deterred him a fair bit.

He took a cursory glance over all the wording and nodded, punching the small 'Yes' box with his chubby fingers.

There a sudden small 'ping!' the book transformed, turning into a small book called 'Physics and the Mind First Edition', while the world unfroze all around him, birds began to chirp, the wind that he hadn't noticed flowed once again, but most noticeably the door unlocked and Naruto's caretaker walked in.

"Oh my!" The caretaker laughed picking Naruto up, his face was clearer for some reason now, wire-framed glasses were perched above a fair nose with light brown hair being held back with a light blue bandana. "I knew you weren't that tired, Naruto-kun! Shame on you for trying to trick your caretaker, Naruto-kun!" The caretaker picked the book up once he had the boy comfortably cradled on one arm, raising an eyebrow. "Physics and the Mind? You sure are aiming high, Naruto-kun! I started reading this when I was four! But I have no doubt you'll be able to read this no problem in a month!" the caretaker cooed the last part as he held Naruto up, book tucked under an armpit, and Naruto giggled.

"Oh! Itachi-chan is coming by later today as well!" The caretaker babbled, shaking Naruto a bit as he set him on the crib laying the large book open in front of him. "You two are such good friends! I bet you're just a long term investment for Itachi-chan, eh? These prodigies are getting smarter and smarter these days!"

Before Naruto could comprehend what the caretaker said, the world once more turned white.

…

Naruto blinked and shook his head, the sudden sense of vertigo leaving him suddenly. He grasped for his forehead surprised to find his normally unruly blonde hair tied back. His vision cleared and he looked down, blinking at the sight of his clothes.

They were so… plain.

Black pants and a plain white zip-up sleeveless turtleneck vest with an orange short sleeved shirt underneath. He was unable to think for a moment but he noticed he was slightly paler than he remembered, he flexed his muscles and chakra coils as he seemingly kept still, an exercise most Shinobi did several times an hour. His muscles and coils responded differently than he remembered, instead of the ripple of sinew and power he awaited, a gentle wave of power washed over him.

It was if he was inside a whole other body… one he was sure would be able to do much more than he could've with the last one… and irrational anger welled up within him.

What the hell were his last stats! He almost raged out loud, if this was his power at mostly normal what kind of stats was he dealt with at the beginning! It wasn't even anger at the villagers or anyone else! It was all on him! He was the same age! This could've all been him! Naruto gritted his teeth and…

"Is there something wrong Naruto-Sempai?" A familiar voice asked next to him, he turned and was surprised to see Sakura, Ino and Sasuke sitting around a table, books laid out and staring intently at him. Sasuke's skin was unmarred by the senbon that pierced him in Wave, while Sakura's hair was tied back in a high pony tail, the headband she had used before she got the Genin headband was gone, will her hair was still the same length before their encounter with Orochimaru and though he hadn't known Ino, as well as his two teammates, the girl seemed more relaxed than he remembered, and much less bruised.

"S-sakura?" Naruto stuttered, momentarily stunned by the new appearance of his crush, before picking up on her words. Quietly admonishing himself for being caught off guard, he didn't even know if he called her Sakura or Haruno, in this life. "S-s-sempai?"

"Stupid, Forehead!" Ino yelled, bonking the pink-haired girl on the head, and Naruto, surprisingly, caught the Uchiha smirk behind his interlaced fingers, as the two girls began to bicker as they always did. He processed the situation faster than he would've before, taking in their rather nervous body language and the books surrounding them to be preparing for a test. "He's not our Sempai! He's in the same class as us!"

"He might as well be, Ino-Pig!" Sakura growled, shaking her fist at the blonde threateningly. Displaying the same attitude that he remembered, it really was just some sort of restart… sure he remembered everything from the last game… but with this… it was like he never died in the first place… "Naruto-Sempai's just had a run of bad luck that's all! Just because he wasn't present for his last two tests doesn't mean he should have to do it again! He's been top of the class for years now! Naruto-Sempai should've graduated when he was nine! Those teachers just didn't like him, right Naruto-Sempai?"

Naruto blinked, should've graduated years ago? How could he have- of course! The intelligence! He must be a freakin' genius! Coupled with the facts that Sakura was a bookworm he must be friend s with her! Things were really looking up!

"Right…" Naruto nodded before looking around, noticing all the books strewn about he decided to ask what they were for, picking up a wilderness survival guide as well as a rather abstract book titled: "Principles of Jutsu.", "Umm what are all these books for?"

The two girls gave him blank stares while Sasuke groaned and palmed his face, exasperation seemed to emanate from the Uchiha while the two girls looked slightly betrayed, and after a cursory glance Naruto surmised that they probably looted those books from the surrounding shelves by themselves. "See! I told you guys we wouldn't need these! He's taken the test twice! He probably knows all the answers!" Sasuke got up and pointed at Naruto, who found himself blinking again, Sasuke never acted like this… he was blunt and straightforward, sure, but he never acted like this, this was something he'd expect from Sakura who was switching gazes between him and Sasuke with keen interest. "Are you going to help us with the Total Optimized Application Designator test or not? I could be studying on my own right now!"

"Yeah!" Ino yelled, pointing with Sasuke, her inner fangirl raging out of control and making her act rashly once more, causing the two boys and, surprisingly, Sakura to wince "Are you going to help us with the T.O.A.D. or not, Naruto? We've been sitting here for 30 minutes and the test in an hour!"

"Calm down, Ino-san" Naruto placated the girl with ease, making a few 'hold on' hand movements, surprising himself with his sudden calmness. He never acted like this! "Just hand me that book and I'll show you what you have to look for in the test…"

Sasuke gave a snort and sat back down, taking a book and studying it intently as he listened to Naruto's drawls. He still couldn't see why Itachi had insisted on him becoming friends with this boy… what he found himself thinking is why he was still hanging around him after Itachi massacred the entire clan.

But the fact he was still friends with him just made his head hurt.

Sasuke shook his head trying to get the thoughts out, he had other things to look forward to! This test could mark his ascension into ANBU, T&I, Forensics, and even Medical! This was a big turning point in his life! This test could probably alter his entire life!

"Is the T.O.A.D. test hard, Naruto-Sempai?" Sakura asked, interrupting Naruto, much to Sasuke's irritation, he was trying to study dammit! This was the one thing his sibling complained about! The PERFECT Itachi never liked the T.O.A.D. test! This was his time to shine! "The instructors said that the test will probably choose our lives for us! What if I don't get what I want?" She lamented, sinking into her seat further and further, almost slipping under the table, making Ino's eyebrow rise "What if I'm only useful as cannon fodder? I don't wanna die!"

"Don't worry," Naruto waved away her worries airily, enjoying the ease that his answers came, and the easy effect it had on the girl who began to pull herself upright. "The test's multiple choice, and it's practically just asking for your opinion and evaluating your mindset, most people find out that whatever they get is suited for them really well."

Sakura seemed to calm down a bit, suddenly there was 'Whoosh!' and a small bar appeared at the upper left part of his vision.

'Sage point gained! +1! Good Karma gained!'

Karma? Naruto narrowed his eyes, half listening to Sakura's relieved words, while pointing things out in the books that they all needed to know. Sage points? What are those for? He'd learned of Karma a fair bit in his old life, but never took it seriously, good actions paid off themselves off after all….

'Sage points are automatically gained when doing actions that weigh in the 'good' side of Karma! Players with Sage points and High Karma have better reputations and are easily accepted by most people. Players with Demon points and Low Karma are of the opposite spectrum hated and feared by many people. It is possible to keep Karma balanced with equal acts of Sage and Demon points attained. Neutral Karma has no effect on other characters though it allows for the advantage of flexibility, where having one set of points is not enough neutral players have equal amounts and can make the situation much easier. Each one of the groups have a particular 'Crowd' with which that accepts them later game, providing them with weapons and training unavailable to the opposite section.'

Naruto mentally groaned, but kept a smile on his face while nodding at the now more-exuberant, Sakura. This was getting far more complicated than he was originally hoping for… couldn't he just… pick up some sort of super weapon and beat everyone with semi-cleverness? It would be so much easier… but the fact that actions carried consequences gave him a bit of warmth that he didn't know he was missing… probably because there was something stopping him from going crazy and killing everyone.

The bell suddenly rang and the other three got up.

"C'mon, Naruto-sempai!" Sakura yelled, steadily trotting away with a small smile on her face as her hair fluttered behind her, she must be more excited due to his words, the recently resurrected Genin mused with a slight smile, "We'll clean that up afterwards!"

"Dammit, Forehead!" Ino yelled chasing after her friend while pushing her clan books down a bag, while she was a bit angry at Naruto for insisting they study and calling weeks of work practically bunk, she was a lot more confident with the test now… and she knew more about her family to boot! A few more family techniques never hurt anybody!. "Don't just run off! We have to wait for Sasuke-kun too!"

Naruto gave a sigh, and willed the small smile to leave his face and got up, with a quick examination he gathered a few of the book he knew he could take and put them in his bag. He'd examine those later… or sell them, he did a lot of things that weren't exactly 'kosher' when he was too old for the orphanage. Memories of his life before becoming a ninja were filtering back, slowly, and he knew there would be a month of summer before he'd get registered and receive his monthly stipend of Ryo, while the stipend from the village was large padding his account would be harder later with all the money he'll be spending on maintaining his supply of Kunai and Shuriken, along with the occasional pack of flash bombs and explosive tags it would be best if he made as much money as possible.

"Dobe… what are you going to do with those books?"

Naruto jumped up, startled so much that he almost dropped the books, he was lucky enough to have seen the latch and closed it haphazardly so they didn't spill out. Damn it all! He thought Sasuke left! If he was caught stealing from a public institute he'd get it on his record!

"Sasuke! What are you doing here? I thought you went with Sakura and Ino!"

"Don't change the subject, Dobe." Sasuke grunted, tapping his foot in irritation, taking glances between the normally stoic blond with his eyes darting to the book in on hand and the bulging book bag. "What are you doing with all those books?"

Naruto's mind went a mile a minute. What was he going to do? Sasuke would definitely rat him out if he told him the truth!

"Aren't these books for use by the students?" Naruto blurted out, while he looked calm he was just running his mouth off with whatever his brain provided. "They can't really complain with how a books being used if it's helping someone out right?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "If you think I'm going to fall for that, Dobe…"

Naruto mentally cursed, why did Sasuke have to be such an ass about everything? He wracked his mind again and came with his next possible point. The threat was left hanging but he knew Sasuke would rat him out…

"The books come from the teaching budget in the Shinobi revenue, right?" Naruto appeased, desperately, giving a small smile as he held out his hands. Praying silently in his mind that this would work, "Since Ojii-san couldn't get any more funds for me he told me to help myself with the schools in the library, he needs a reason to divert more fund to the school anyway."

Sasuke seemed to think about it for a second, before nodding, the Hokage and Naruto had a far more beneficial relationship than most people knew, they were so alike it was almost scary in some cases. While the instructors never passed Naruto, he knew all of the reasons were only mere technicalities that a normal student would've passed through. Behind the seemingly aloof and distanced personality the blond kept was a devastatingly intelligent mind, he knew if Naruto was any smarter he'd have to be inhuman…"You always do bug him for a bigger book budget… you should cover that book bag more though… Sakura's right you know… these Instructors don't like you very much." The Uchiha heir nodded to him left, Naruto wiped the sweat the gathered her brow, figuratively, and packed a few more books before heading towards class.

This… if his limited memories would suffice… test will certainly be very interesting.

…

"What kinds of questions were those?" one student lamented, "They didn't make any sense!"

"These questions were supposed to be answered by your preference…" Iruka sighed setting the papers, he hated this time of year "there are no right or wrong answers."

"So what'd you answer for number 10?" One student in the back joked, "I answered Hokage! But that can't be right!" and the class was left laughing while Iruka gave a small smile, at the tester's, and future ninja. He took a moment to sigh lightly at the new batch of students, the smile fading slightly, as much as he didn't want to admit he was glad most of them would get failed by the Jonin and go on to live as civilians, this class was too… dreamy, while he was born and tempered through war, this generation was more into heroics and saving damsel's in distress… not something most ninja do…

He looked around at the smiling faces and the raucous laughter , and allowed a grim smile to pass through his lips, remembering far too clearly the somberness of his own moment taking the T.O.A.D., back then it really was a matter of life and death… far too few of them actually knew what they were heading into…

"Iruka-Sensei?"

Behold… the only one he knew would thrive in the battlefield. He put a small smile, though it was slightly strained and tried to beam at his favorite blond.

"Hey look… It's our new ANBU Special Operations Commander! I knew you had it in you, kid!"

"ANBU Special Operations?" Naruto asked, an eyebrow curving up the slightest amount. "How is that possible?" the blond crossed his arms unconsciously , something that Iruka knew the kid did every time he was thinking, he'd seen it plenty of times. "I'm not sure about that Sensei… Covert Operations isn't really what I planned on doing…"

Iruka scratched his cheek thoughtfully, slightly amused at the blond who practically picked the epitome of what a ninja should be and was rejecting it… but he might as well humor him. "Well… you have taken this test 3 times already…" Iruka muttered, his inner prankster raging slightly, Naruto was perfect for ANBU, but he just couldn't see that kid flourishing there… this was definitely good… almost all the other choices would be better for Naruto than ANBU in his opinion. "Do you have something in mind? I can help you get a career path but ANBU isn't so bad…"

Naruto gave a nod, slightly surprised at his past-future, but more intent with choosing for himself, than letting something choose for him… even if it was indirectly himself.

'A familiar screen suddenly popped up, but instead of perk it displayed a ton of information.'

Naruto read it intently.

'Skill Levels and Tag! Skill points are exactly what they say skill points. Skill points affect combat and speech with other characters. Tagged skills gain 5 levels in the beginning and are the most likely to be used through the entire game! The tagged skills should be chosen carefully! Players should be careful to choose which skill they tag, game play is drastically altered when tags are different, and all skill points do not have a limit. Skills grow in specific ways as well! Categories allow players to level up Skills through three areas in each Skill! Skills grow with use of Categories and all start from 10 unless affected by perks or attributes! '

'Naruto Uzumaki:'

'Barter Level: 13 (Charisma: 4 -1, Intelligence 9: +4). This affects the buying of food and selling of items an Experienced barterer can easily scrounge up a few Ryo with a few trinkets. High Trade opens up dialogue that can avoid confrontation and grant reduced prices at several shops, should you be a leader of a country this will be a great asset in gaining resources! High Business allows you to buy properties and create more shops for income, as well as opens up the path to become a leader of your own Worldwide Corporation! Smuggling is for those who live past the law, and traverse the black market and the criminal underworld with ease! Create your own Syndicate to conquer the underbelly of the world! Whether you lead a country to prosperity, horde the world's money all for yourself or control the world as a puppeteer in the background… it's all up to you! Categories: Trade, Business, Smuggling'

'Speech Level: 14 (Tagged: +5, Charisma 4: -1). This greatly affects interaction with other character, enabling them to help you or not harm you. An important skill for pacifists, or suave talkers, this will be infinitely helpful when trying to get people to help you. Training in Diplomacy, is good for leaders but always needs for compromise, in battle it's nearly no use but it's undoubtedly important in courts and settling differences in your team! High Persuasion is gained by those who'd turn friends into enemies, and enemies into friends! Intimidation is a tricky skill that requires previous actions to be able to put weight onto your words, however it can scare your enemies and pressure weaker men to support you to gain your favor! Whether you lead the weak with an offered hand, a crafted smile, or with bloodied hands is all within your choosing. Categories: Diplomacy, Persuasion and Intimidation!'

'Medicine Level: 14 (Intelligence 9: +4). This affects the potency of healing techniques you perform on yourself, it also lowers the chances of being addicted to Drugs while giving you the ability to heal yourself and your allies! Medical Jutsus need high levels of Chakra Control but are the efficient in healing wounds, taking out poison, and paralyzing opponents, high levels will have you starting your own hospitals! Herbal Medicine is in direct conjugation with poisons! Mixing herbs to heal your teammates and creating poisons to subtly kill your enemies while mixing aids for the common peoples in your apothecary will get you very far! Chemicals are for the Drug Lords out there! Create painkillers and antidotes for your friends, overwhelm your enemies with Toxins and make some money keeping the population happy with your underworld empire! Whether it is to heal the sick, ease them painlessly into their final breath or damn them… is all up to you. Categories: Medical Jutsu, Herbal Medicine, Chemicals'

'Chakra Control Level: 10 (Jinchuuriki Negative Tag: -5, Intelligence 9: +4, Sticky Leaf Technique Mastery +1). This affects the amount of Chakra that is needed to use a Jutsu, some higher level Jutsu also need higher amounts of Chakra Control. Body is a battle skill, which rarely sees anything besides combat, it grows along with the ability of the ninja to pump chakra through his body for strength! Feel is trained with the use of chakra to augment one senses, allowing faint detection of foreign Chakra! Soul augments the strength and length of your Jutsus, mastery of Jutsus lead to its growth! Whether you shield your comrades in the frontlines, allow the decisive strike to go through undetected or rain thunder and fire from beyond… is all up to you. Categories: Body, Feel, Soul.'

'Chakra Level: 24 (Jinchuuriki Positive Tag: +14,). This affects the amount of Chakra and Chakra Regeneration of the player. Jutsu cannot be used without Chakra. When flares of Chakra are large enough some enemies may flee. Solid is the most common form of chakra, it is trained along with Body, providing power behind the enhancement. Vapor is used with Feel, it's the Chakra used by Feel to form a boundary of the user's Chakra to create a boundary field to detect different chakras! Liquid is used with Soul, as the chakra flows through you can control it's volume for more destructive Jutsu and more efficient healing. Whether you break through boundaries, seek and destroy your enemies, or overwhelm countries with perfect Jutsus… is all up to you. Categories: Solid, Vapor, Liquid.'

'Sneak Level: 19 (Tagged: +5, Intelligence +4). This affects the ability of an enemy to see or hear you when you attempt to stay unseen as well as how you get your allies though a battle. Tactics is your ability to guide your allies to their advantage, from a four man team to entire armies! Espionage is the epitome of sneak, but concerns only yourself behind enemy lines, stealing secrets, plans and assassinating key figures. Treachery is the lie behind the lies, a mask behind the masks. Whether you be an agent of the people, an agent of the shadows or an agent for yourself… is all up to you. Categories: Tactics, Espionage, Treachery'

'Repair Level: 14 (Intelligence 9: +4). This affects the ability to repair equipment and slows the degradation of equipment. Forging is trained by the creation of weapons, from kunai to kodachi and beyond you'll supply yourself and your allies with powerful tools. Machining is practiced with the many electric powered appliances , with sufficient training you may be able to call up the War Machines of the Ancients… Crafting is for the underhanded and on the move, simple ingredients with no fuss and simple tools to match. Whether your skills bring weapons to your allies, awe and fear into their eyes or wary steps ahead of you… is all up to you. Categories: Forging, Machining, Crafting.'

'Explosives Level: 12 (Perception 7: +2). This affects the ability to disarm and use explosives effectively. Showing off this skill will make people back up a fair bit… but that's because they just gave you their stash of explosive tags. Combat experience is gained with active use of explosives in battle, tagging opponents for quick, decisive deaths. Trap is gained when setting traps behind yourself to maim opponents tailing you, due to the fact that they need to be activated by the closeness of an enemy kills are very infrequent with this type. Sabotage is the last and, arguably, deadliest form of explosives. It requires forethought and planning but it can be used to effectively cripple enemy infrastructure and trade lines with specialized timed charges and letter bombs. Not only that, but it has its own place in the battlefield, by tagging a wounded enemy and 'releasing' him. will cripple incoming enemy forces and reduce their morale. Whether you use this skill to kill quickly, slow enemy armies or bring the downfall of entire countries… is up to you. Categories: Combat, Trap, Sabotage.'

'Melee Level: 17 (Tagged, +5 Perception 7: +2). This affects the ability of a player to use Edged or Blunt weapons. Thrown weapons, Kunai and Shuriken, are also affected by this ability their damage and speed are greatly increased every level this skill gains. Two-Handed is leveled with two handed, power weapons such as the Katana and the Nodachi, this call for powerful strikes and for the first blow to kill. One-handed is for the shorter blades, as well as knives and call upon the many strikes for successful hits on organs and vitals. Assassination is for use of stealth weapons such as ninja and monofilament wire to kill undetected. Whether it's to face foes above the norm, slice entire corps of men apart or slice the throats of your enemies undetected is all up to you. Categories: Two-Handed, One-Handed, Assassination.'

'Unarmed Level 10: This affects the ability of the player to kill enemies with the only, non degrading weapon on earth: the human body. High amounts of this skill make more Taijutsu techniques available to the player in the game. Low skills only unlock basic punches and kicks while higher skill enables total mastery of most martial arts styles you may come across. Earth, is unbreakable and unyielding you take hits and return them tenfold, nothing that harms you will do it without getting killed themselves. Water is fluid and graceful, but wears away all things especially those who seek to impede it, slow and steady goes the fight, the enemies force will be their own death. Wind is edged and simple, choke, pierce and kill your hands will be stained with blood of your enemies while you walk unscathed. Whether you are the Immovable object, the Unrelenting force or the lance that pierces all thing, is all up to you. Categories: Earth, Water Wind.'

'Seals Level: 14(Intelligence 9, +4) Seals are the universal lock, the higher skill in seals enable players to 'unlock' them. Low levels in this skill allow players to 'unlock' seals in the range of Very-Easy to Easy, higher levels allow a larger amount of seals that can be 'unlocked'. 'Forced Unlock' is also available it is a useful tool for player high in this skill, they can simply use a rudimentary 'bypass' seal to open the seal easily, though it does come with consequences, the 'bypass' has a low percentage of working in the lower levels and a higher amount when high. Seals that have not been bypassed correctly are permanently closed, or if there is another way to open it, it becomes the only way to open it. Unlike other Skills this can be advanced through Lock picking alone, circumnavigating the three categories. Other than that it also allows the modification of apparel items and weapons. Assault crafts seals that enhance damage and transfers the users energy to increase the weapon's devastation and usage. Defense is for armor enhancement diverting chakra for reinforcement. Support is applied to items for enhanced outcomes, it only requires one 'payoff' of chakra and can be applied to 'one use' items such as Soldier pills and poisons. Whether it's through Ravaging the enemy, Staying alive in the thick of battle or fighting past their limits your allies will be grateful for any path you take. Categories: Assault, Defense Support'

Naruto altered it quickly, tagging Barter and Repair instead of Speech and Sneak, he left Melee alone though, weapons were useful, and being able to use those efficiently could make the difference. Besides all the benefits he could think of with his new perks, he knew that training will make up for anything else, something he was looking forward to now that he knew which ones he can train in for the effective way of getting stronger.

The world switched back and Iruka nodded eagerly.

"Yes… you seem more like an apt Combat Specialist, than someone who attacks from the dark. I can't really see you with all that cloak-and-dagger stuff going around in ANBU nowadays, this will probably a better choice." Iruka finished with a smile, giving Naruto one of his teacher-smiles that made whoever, at the receiving end, feel slightly prouder of themselves for no reason.

"Thank you Iruka-Sensei." Naruto nodded gratefully, tilting his head just the tiniest bit so that that his classmates wouldn't notice their impromptu conversation, "Now all I have to do is pass the final test right? That'll be easy!"

He gave a slight wave to Iruka, who was immediately besieged by his students, and picked up his bag, moving to go home, before a familiar voice made him turn his head.

"Dobe!" Naruto turned around and saw Sakura, Sasuke and Ino walking towards him, surprising him lightly, they must've been friends here…

"How did you do, Naruto-Sempai?" Sakura asked cheerily, "I got Combat Medic! It was amazing! Apparently my high grades in Medicine and Chakra Control made me a good match for it!"

"I did pretty well," Naruto grinned cheekily, "Combat Specialist, maybe we'll get set in the same team, eh Sakura? You fix be up while I cover your back, and Sasuke over there can provide some decent cover fire as a Long Range Specialist, eh?"

Sasuke almost tripped over his own feet.

"W-what? How did you know?" Sasuke demanded, lunging for Naruto, who dodged it, grinning as the Uchiha prodigy almost printed his face onto a wall. "Tell me!"

"Make me." Naruto stuck out his tongue and grabbed the nearby ledge, successfully leaping on top of a building and breaking into a run, as the Uchiha barely began to regain his balance "I'll tell you if you can catch me, Sasuke-Chan!"

"I'm not a girl!" Sasuke fumed, leaping onto the building and running after Naruto. "Get back here you idiot!"

Naruto heard Sakura mutter, "Boys…" before seeing her continue to walk away, the corner of her lips upturned just enough for him to make out before the world shifted once more, turning the entire scene blinding white before fading away.

…

Naruto found himself in very familiar place with a very familiar scroll, with a very familiar technique in front of him. He shook his head and regained his balance, his mind coming to grips with the sudden teleportation and, if the setting sun was any implication, the change from mid-afternoon to dusk.

Huh. Looks like he still failed the Genin test. The clearing was just as large as he remembered, large enough to hold a thousand of him he was sure. The scroll was smaller than he remembered but that didn't faze him in the least, with all the changes in how he thought and how clear things were to him now it wasn't nearly as shocking to him when he was an inch or two larger than before. Just as he was contemplating a small ding sounded off and many words faded in at the very top of his peripheral eyesight.

'Perform Jutsu: Kage Bunshin'

He shrugged and made the familiar cross hand seal.

'_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'_

With a 'pop' a clone appeared right next to him, it gave a nod to him before dispelling itself, turning into a puff of smoke, it's existence being too meaningless for it to try to stop itself from popping.

He cocked his head to the side, the last time he mastered the Kage Bunshin Iruka appeared only a minute later… so the four extra points in Intelligence must've been a huge leap…

Naruto moved to wrap up the scroll when he suddenly noticed a bracer, of sorts, made of metal with a thin layer of some sort of green crystal running along it. like any curious boy his age, he did the natural thing when he found something attached to his body… he poked it. Thunder sounded off from the distance and bold words flared into existence, nearly blinding him.

'Seal-Crystal acquired!'

'Seal Crystals automatically absorb all items players gather! Items, however take up mass, the amount that can be stored in one's seal crystal is according to one's Strength Stat.'

The crystal blinked to life, inky words forming in its lattices displaying the 10 books that he 'took' from the library.

"Well… that's useful," Naruto muttered, where exactly did he find something like this?

"Indeed it is Naruto…" Naruto froze Mizuki's voice came from his right, his eyes picking him out from the tree's while he stood still, where was Iruka? Wasn't he the one who found Naruto first? "Now take it off and put it next to the scroll and we'll finish this test easily and I can hand you your headband."

Naruto snorted, "Fat chance bastard…" Naruto muttered darkly, discretely making the cross hand seal as he moved his arm as if to take of the new device he suddenly found himself in… if he did this right Iruka-sensei wouldn't even need to fight…

"Naruto! What have you done!" Iruka yelled suddenly appearing from the corner of the clearing, and to Naruto's horror, right in front of Mizuki's kill zone. "What were you thinking? Stealing the Scroll of Sealing after failing a test! What possibly coul-"

"I did." Mizuki sneered from beyond the shadows, Naruto noted that it sounded more sinister than Mizuki's original voice, but chalked it up to the fact he couldn't see Mizuki clearly. Naruto's eyes suddenly widened as he heard the unmistakable sound of a clasp being ripped off. Naruto dove towards Iruka, making the symbol he knew so well.

'_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'_

A Bunshin formed in front of Naruto Justas he tackled Iruka, the clone was immediately ripped apart turning into a cloud of smoke that covered the bush he tackled Iruka into.

Naruto looked into Iruka's eyes, knowing fully, well that he couldn't just tell him that Mizuki was a traitor without opening another can of worms… namely his own death and resurrection in the game.

"Iruka-Sensei," Naruto whispered, acting dumb "This wasn't a test? Mizuki lied?"

"Yeah, Naruto go towards town, I'll Henge a log into looking like the scroll and you can go look for help." Iruka whispered rolling from Naruto with ease, Naruto gripped his arm and stopped him from moving though.

"No we'll work together we'll bring him down easily with the two of us working together." Seeing Iruka about to protest, Naruto continued quickly, "I mastered a technique from the scroll called Kage Bunshin, I think we can work with that right?"

Iruka's eyes widened astronomically, he knew Naruto was intelligent but mastering the Kage Bunshin in under 4 hours? That was ridiculous!

Naruto waited intently for Iruka's answer, after a few moments the man sighed and nodded, "Alright Naruto…you flank him… I'll make sure he doesn't notice you, Oh and before I forget…" Iruka fished in his pockets before pressing a package into Naruto's hands, Naruto opened it and found a duo of strap-on-holsters "These are sharpened Kunai and Shuriken, I figured giving them to you after you graduated but with the situation as is you'll need it more than me," Iruka motioned to the other object which looked like a bamboo cane without the curved handle, "You were always the best with melee weapons so I figured if I was already giving you one thing, why not another?" Iruka unsheathed it an inch and revealed the tempered steel underneath. "It's a standard Ninjato, use it wisely and make sure not to kill Mizuki we still need to find up who he's working for."

Naruto nodded and Iruka quickly leapt from the bushes, his hands flying through seals. Iruka took a breath and extended his arm and a ball of white lightning flew out at dizzying speed.

'_Raiton: Coursing Lighting Bullet!'_

This seemed to surprise Mizuki who immediately dove out of the way, he swore for a moment before leaping side to side of the large trees landing softly with a massive shuriken in each hand.

"So it comes to this does it Iruka…" Mizuki sneered, hefting the large military shuriken up with ease. Iruka got up and charged up another two of the Raiton bullets in each hand, glaring at the white haired Shinobi. "Picking the Kyuubi over your own village… what will parents think?"

"Shut up you, insect." Iruka growled, much to Naruto's surprise who was already poised behind the bush behind Mizuki. "You left the village the moment you lied to Naruto about the test, and Naruto isn't the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi is a raging entity that never cared for anyone, Naruto on the other hand is the smartest ninja I have ever seen, the exact opposite of the Kyuubi."

"You're blind, Iruka," Mizuki sneered, "the Kyuubi is cunning and it reflects upon Naruto's intelligence, it hungers for knowledge and will forsake everything for it, the minute it finds a way to protect itself from the seal masters, it will rampage untethered by anything… it will be unstoppable! Why else would he reject so many people?"

Iruka suddenly went pale, and Naruto floundered, what the hell? Iruka supported him last time! What did he do wrong?

Iruka shook his head as if to shake off unwanted thoughts, unknown to him Mizuki was already in the process of throwing the two large shuriken at him. The first shuriken was a blur as it left Mizuki's hand to Naruto's eyes but Iruka suddenly slammed the two balls of lighting and together and shot it into smaller particles. The smaller particles spread out while still keeping together with strands of power between them, one shard made contact with the shuriken and forced itself against the energy Mizuki channeled into it to fly faster and straighter slowing it considerably before bringing in the rest of it siblings to completely neutralize the energies.

Naruto's mind was filled with awe but he decided to act, as Iruka's hands began to glow with small amounts of power he knew they would take seconds his teacher didn't have to pull off the scatter shot. He lunged forward from the bushes rolling underneath the massive shuriken, and with a quicker than normal, for him, throw of kunai he disabled Mizuki's arms. As Mizuki yelled in pain Naruto jumped up and slammed the butt of the kunai between his second and third vertebrae knocking the wind out of him.

Iruka stiffened at the sudden action but shot the under-powered balls of lighting at the reeling traitor, thankful at the fact that without being fully charged the Raiton would merely knock the man out. When his eyes met with his student's he couldn't bear to look and stared forward as his mental thoughts warred.

"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto whispered as the scarred man continued to stare forward, his frame shaking slightly as he took in the fact that one of his old friends had just tried to kill him and that he was forced to doubt, the blonde's humanity with only a sentence, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Naruto… I'm okay." Iruka shook his head slowly, making his way to the plainly-clothed teen and to the knocked out Mizuki, there were more things that needed to be done right now. "Let's get the scroll back to the Hokage, Naruto, I'm sure he'll be happy to know you're alright…"

Naruto nodded and slung the scroll behind his back, and easily hefting the knocked out Mizuki with his Sensei's help. It took a few minutes but they found the trail leading home, tree-walking being far too difficult with the weight they carried between them, while looking frail the man was still dense due to his role of Front Line Support, which required great amounts of use with the two weapons they had disarmed him of.

After a few minutes the scarred man had a thought and asked Naruto something.

"Naruto… did you look for anything in the scroll?" Iruka asked, hoping to verify his faith in the child was not misplaced, "Did you look for any… seals?"

Naruto thought for a moment before nodding which made Iruka's steps waver slightly.

"Yeah Mizuki, told me to get this thing." Naruto hefted the Seal Crystal which began to glow faintly as he hefted it in the darkness, and Iruka recognized it as one of the fourth Hokage's specialized containment projects. "He probably wanted it so he could hide the scroll inside so it wouldn't hinder him or anything while he ran."

Iruka let a small sigh of relief as they neared the village edge, he didn't know why… but he knew that it was time for the Hokage to finally explain to Naruto what he exactly was. Maybe it was the scare that Naruto was really the Kyuubi, or the relief that he just verified his students nature as a human, but he knew that Naruto should get the explanation from the Hokage as soon as possible…

Naruto shifted uneasily as they stood in front of the gates. He'd never really looked at the gate before, when he left for any missions it was trough the eastern gate, which was much smaller than the monster of a door in front of him, it was an imposing deep brown color backed by blue steel at the sides and outlined with red around the solid concrete walls around the village. When the gates began to slide inside the wall after Iruka made some seals that Naruto couldn't catch he was surprised to find that behind the gate was another wall with a smaller, but made completely of steel, gate that seemed small compared to the dark red walls, studded with gashes and deep gouges barely an inch deep, that surrounded it.

"Kami…" Naruto whispered, he could smell the blood in the ground and on the walls around the gate. It was stifling but muted as if the blood stained the land .

Iruka was surprised at the sudden word but caught Naruto's eyes and gave a chuckle, he had almost forgotten this was the first time Naruto was out of the village and had never seen the North Gate before.

"This is the strongest gate of all the Elemental Nations, Naruto." Iruka smirked as Naruto nearly cracked his neck as he turned to face him, his inquisitive nature shining fully, "The first Hokage grew the sliding gates from the largest tree he ever created, and it's harder than steel. It's not an idle protection measure either, every month a group of bandits with a few missing ninja on their high horses will try to penetrate this wall, to take down a caravan they've been pursuing and fail." He gestured to the blood red walls and ground that the huge sliding doors had revealed. "This is all through blood, not paint or some morale inhibiter on our part, it's all natural. We even tried to keep it as pure white as it was first made but whenever we made any progress scraping away the blood the next attack would come and make all our hard work go to waste. It freaked out the caravans a bit but now it's deterring lot of bandit around Konoha so it's doing some good."

Naruto frowned, and cocked his head as they made their way through the blood stained grounds, when Iruka was making the necessary signs to unlock the question burning inside his head.

"Umm… Iruka-sensei… when would you like the Shuriken, Kunai and sword back?"

Iruka's eyes widened and he laughed, small plumes of joy replacing the guilt in his gut.

Iruka let Mizuki drop and Naruto followed suit, they were already standing inside the village anyways, ignoring the moan escaping from the white-haired traitor's lips.

Iruka, tussled Naruto's hair with a grin, "As your official Chuunin instructor I, Iruka, deem you a satisfactory student in all areas of Ninja proficiency, and with your actions in detaining a potential traitor respectfully grant you full status as a Ninja, Shinobi and Genin of Konoha."

Iruka fished inside his pockets and pulled out a blue headband handing it to Naruto, who held it reverently. It wasn't as worn as his the original but he knew it more of an award than a shame since, Iruka believed in him enough to carry it while looking for him and didn't have to hand him down his old headband. He took a moment to contemplate what to do with it before wrapping it securely at the base of his neck, the blue contrasting nicely with the orange turtleneck.

'Achievement completed! Traitor! Complete the tutorial!'

…

Good God… this was 8000 words when I first released it (before I took it down). I then went over it, corrected tons of problems, added FOUR THOUSAND WORDS, changed the entire leveling system, made it more story-like than the dialogue spree it was before and, finally, posted this.

Now… I need to work on another chapter of my already popular story for Percy Jackson and the Olympians and hopefully not get lynched by my other fans.

Ten reviews please… I promise that this will be far different from any other story you will have ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

The Game

…

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form earning money from this story.

…

Author's Foreword: The POV will now be 1st person Naruto and will remain so for the rest of the story, it'll stop the need for him having to talk aloud and me needing to put half of the worlds in italics… I hope.

…

Chapter 2

…

It arrived with its usual thunderous fanfare, light orange words coming into view in a box only I could see in front of me.

'Tutorial Completed! Missions now online! Training Grounds now open!'

The box disappeared the moment I finished reading, I barely had any time to think about it before I was turned against my will to face Iruka-sensei as two men carted away Mizuki off to the side in a nondescript building. If I could remember correctly that was the same place where captured men would be sent, whenever a Shinobi would be able to get a prisoner alive, of course. The door's didn't open very often, but Mizuki was going through them now. I had a feeling he won't be teaching at the Academy anytime soon, since I've never seen any of the people who entered it ever again.

Iruka had a large smile on his face, and his posture was more relaxed than I've ever remembered it being. I had hopes that he no longer worried about me being Kyuubi any longer, but I didn't hold my breath on it, the effects of my new choices had me grasping at straws. I was friends with Sasuke, Sakura and Ino, but Iruka didn't believe in me! Iruka was the kindest man I've ever met, and he believed in me even before Konohamaru did, the thought of him thinking I was an enemy made me slightly ill.

"Hey, Naruto." Iruka intoned, and it seemed rather formal for some reason I couldn't point out. I was also unable to speak for some reason. "Remember to meet for team assignments three months from now, okay?" There was a pause, and the air seemed to shift for a moment before he was taking something out of his pocket. "It's thanks to you, I really didn't get hurt pursuing Mizuki today, he was more than a match for me, I want you to take these."

I received something, but I couldn't discern what it was. He turned on his heel and leapt up to the rooftops, vanishing from my vision so fast I could hardly believe he was there.

As soon as he was out of sight, the distinct impression I could now move made itself known.

Then thunderous noise returned, and the first thing I did after regaining my muscle movement was to jump up almost 10 feet in the air.

Could I turn that off or something?

The words came into being arranging themselves in the left rather than the right, they were smaller as well and instead of a box, it was in a bulleted column under 'Mission Gains'.

'Iruka Relations Increase!'

'Relations signify your current relationship with a character, this is important for any Romance you may be planning on pursuing with that character.'

I blanched, bile nearly filling my mouth at the thought of pursuing Iruka-sensei. The villagers didn't seem to react and the game just continued as if it didn't just tell me I was a step closer to romancing a man 15 years my senior.

'Lighting Scroll: Static Acquired!'

'Scrolls are used to learn Jutsu, these are very rare and difficult to gain! Be sure to know your affinity or else the Jutsu won't be nearly as strong as it's supposed to be or not work at all if you try to use opposite elements!'

A Jutsu so quick? I really couldn't even believe my eyes at the text in front of me. My last life I only learned two Jutsu and I already reached that number an hour after I learned my first one!

Tch, what had I been doing?

'2500 Ryo awarded!'

"Holy shit!"

I slapped my hand over my mouth as everyone around me gave me odd looks, it was the market district at the entrance of the town, so yelling wasn't very common in these parts.

But fifteen hundred Ryo! I only got two hundred fifty a month! This was enough money to stock my kitchen for the next few months, until I could get back to doing missions.

That thought made me stop and think for a moment, it said that missions were now online. Did that mean I could get actual missions now? I was pretty curious about the training grounds as well, but I didn't know where that was in particular…

But the Hokage's tower had a map of the village inside of it! I could check out the Mission Center and find out where the training aground are as well!

"Excuse me, but are you Naruto Uzumaki?"

It was a foreign voice, accented and much different from those that I usually heard. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough it was a girl wearing some odd uniform I hadn't seen before, with a foreign headband around her forehead. Despite it all, she didn't look remarkable in any way besides her differently colored skin.

I pondered on what to say for a moment, I felt like I had more to say for some reason now, and chose what sounded the least offensive yet would still net me some information.

"Depends," I answered smoothly still just looking over my shoulder, "Who's asking?"

She was silent for a moment, before resuming her in her oddly accented voice as she reached for something in her back pack.

"I am a courier from the Fire Capital's Shinobi taskforce-"

Two marking appeared, one on the lower left of my vision and the other on my right. The red sigil made me wary immediately, it looked just like the outline of a fox's head, while the blue looked akin to a stylized tree. I knew I could go without choosing one, and let her continue, but I chose the blue immediately.

I turned on a dime, my hand swiftly going to my sword as I glared at her behind my locks as they settled. I had no control once more, and I spoke before I even thought of it.

"Care to explain why exactly you look so different, if you're even who you say you are?"

She stiffened, and a familiar voice came from the side.

"Enough, Naruto."

I turned to Ojii-san, letting my hand leave the sword I had been recently bequeathed. The street was silent, and I was surprised to notice all the stores were closed and there were no persons in sight, probably by the ANBU he had following him all the time.

'20 Sage Points Gained!'

'You are now a Rank 1 Sage! Be sure to apply your Sage Point!'

"Release yourself, Yuugao." He called behind me, and when I took a glance the woman behind me was now a woman clad in ANBU armor with flowing purple hair. She gave a nod as she fished a mask from underneath her vest and leapt up to the roof-tops disappearing within moment even though I tried to keep my eyes on her.

"Ojii-san?" I asked tentatively, looking at the ground where to woman was and back to him. I was certainly getting confused now.

"My grandson would hardly be stupid enough to steal the Scroll of Sealing from the tower," He explained, taking the pipe from his mouth momentarily to blow a trio of smoke rings into the air by his side. Even though he looked away, I felt as if I was being analyzed by a larger predator and had to stop my hand from grasping the hilt of my sword. "I needed to make sure you were you, and that you didn't somehow lose 50 points of IQ over a Genin test."

Oh… oh!

"I was tricked into stealing it." I scratched the back of my head as I gave a weak smile. "Not my best moment Ojii-san."

The man's eyebrow raised several notches, and the silent street got decidedly quieter for some reason.

"Ojii-san." The Hokage mused, reinserting the pipe into his mouth. An odd smirk appearing on the side of his face, I must not have called him that in this life. "Appropriate since I somehow let a civilian get the Scroll of Sealing."

He smiled a terrifying smile.

"Would you kindly hand me the scroll that contains all this villages secret techniques?"

Then I realized I still had the Scroll, and he wanted it back. It was inside the Crystal in my forearm. I fumbled around it for a few moments, as he watched me, I eventually got it to work with a literal slap on my own wrist. I wasn't aware how it actually worked, of course, since everything I grabbed just tended to disappear most of the time.

Then the gigantic scroll simply appeared in front of me and dropped itself on the ground.

The muddy, horse-dropping covered ground in the middle of the street that sold vegetables and threw their scraps right on the street.

The silence was deafening now, and the leader of my village actually palmed his face.

'Village Reputation Lowered.'

Yes, thank you for telling me what I already know game. Thank you very much.

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling very awkward now and feeling that I the habit of scathing my neck would probably just grow with time.

"Just come with me, Naruto." Ojii-san sighed as he shook his head, turning around and starting a leisurely pace to the tower "Take that scroll with you as well…"

I reached out to pick up the scroll, sheepishly.

"And actually carry it instead of putting it inside the thing you've barely had for an hour."

"Hai, Ojii-san." I managed through my embarrassment, as I tucked the massive scroll under my hand. I was pretty sure my white clothes would get stained from it as well, but I really, really didn't want to complain after dropping the storage scroll of the village's most forbidden techniques into a pile of horse shit.

The walk was silent after that.

…

"So, Naruto…" Ojii-san drawled as he kicked back on his chair and put his feet upon his table, odd I don't remember him ever doing that in my last life. "Would you care to explain to me why you chose to specialize in Close Combat rather than ANBU Commander?"

I was sure that I looked like a gaping fish, since I was blinking quite rapidly and my mouth was akin to a fish.

"I th-"

A small book immediately hit me square on the forehead, and before I could even touch my forehead he was in front of me blazing with rage.

"Did I not hammer a single thing into your head, Naruto?!" He thundered, and I had to slump into my seat as his presence seemingly sucked up the entire room. My god, did Ojii-san teach me in this dimension because I was a geniu-

He smacked the side of my head with the book, it didn't hurt but I had to wince. Given the fact I was sure that he could have killed me, that was done purposely.

"You bloody fool! I took you in because of you said you'd use your insight properly, but here you go refusing the job best for your talents!" He was absolutely livid, and more than a few veins were appearing on his forehead as he practically shouted his head off.

At least my Perception seems to be making some changes too, while Intelligence seemed to have changed entire social dynamics Perception seems to have netted me some of Ojii-san's time.

"No brain in his head," He muttered as he stomped, a bit petulantly though I couldn't say that out loud, back to his desk. He took his seat again and crossed his arms as he leveled a glare at me.

"Report, Naruto." He grunted, "Enlighten me to your idiocy despite all the years I've taught you."

I winced lightly, once more going to scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

"W-well, you see…" I began, almost instantly having to dodge another small book.

"Wrrrooonnnggg…" Ojii-san drawled, "It seems you've not only forgotten about your promise but how to give a report to me while you're at it!"

A small ding resounded and suddenly I was no longer in my body, but one more in the odd form where I was out of it much like the vision where I met the Fourth. I saw myself sitting oddly as Ojii-san laced his fingers together and rested his chin on the interlaced digits.

'High Intelligence and Perception detected! Applying Analytic perk and Body Language perk! Low Charisma found, taking away Flattery! Average Strength found, locking Bully! Average Agility found, Fast Talker locked! High Luck found, applying positive 10 to Mood!'

Then three options of the familiar dusty orange color came to being off to the side of my vision, most of the words disappearing from the forefront of my vision immediately.

'Placate: Good towards Alphas, Leader Figures, yet Deltas will take offense to this.'

'Appease: Good towards Betas, Follower Figures, yet Alpha's will take offense to this.'

'Intimidate: Good towards Deltas, Trash, Betas and Alpha's will kill you for this.'

Off to the right corner two images suddenly appeared, marked Perception, and I realized that was where 'I' was looking. It was easy for me to determine the controlled beating of Ojii-san's heart, and the relaxed tension he exuded from every pore. Instead of being calmed by the information influx, I was actually even more frightened.

To the right a box appeared marked 'Analysis' and it said a mere three words:

He's Fucking Pissed.

Thunder resounded and a wall of orange text blocked my vision from the scene in which I was so utterly fucked it was not funny.

'Speech! Speech is an extremely integral part of the game! While some Charisma and a few perks help, it'll always be up to you to convince people onto your side/s! Be careful and think upon the characters behavior and mood before speaking! You have plenty of time to choose! The Speech skill levels up whether or not you succeed so you need not worry about failing beyond changing some events in the story or relationships! Certain career paths are also heavily affected by this skill! No doctor can work with an unruly patient, and neither can a business mogul not speak to his subordinates! Who knows! You may even turn enemies into friends!'

Oh shit, Oh shit…

Alright… Calm down… there's plenty of time to choose…

I was never much of a talker beyond yelling and cursing, but I can make this work… there has to be a correct choice in one of these three.

Ojii-san would never be intimidated by me, that would be just plain stupid. I don't even know how I would use that thing if these three are the only choices I would get.

So I was left with Appeasement and Placation.

Quite frankly I didn't quite think he'd like getting his ass kissed or being part of some sort of a deal…

But…

Fuck it…

I covered my invisible face with my invisible hand, and pressed 'Appease.'

"Ah," My…self scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and I was more than a little disconcerted as I was immediately zoomed in to get a good view of my upper half. "I have to admit that I wasn't actually thinking clearly when I asked Iruka-sensei-"

Ojii-san slammed his fist into the table and even though I was immediately shifted over to view the side of my Ojii-san's face I knew that that particular line had been cut off…

"I think that the fact that you weren't thinking clearly has been impressed already, Naruto." His hands returned to the small platform they had been before for his chin, "But, please, show this stupid old man why you acted as you did."

I was suddenly over the shoulder of my body again, and I could hardly suppress my attempts not to scream in fury, why must I do this? Why can't I just run or leave?

The three choices appeared once more, and I pressed 'Appease' again, call it being stupid, but I had a feeling that it was the safest bet I had at the moment.

My other self took a deep breath.

"I didn't want to leave my friends." He said it simply, but even I didn't exactly know where my sudden conviction came from. What surprised me though, was the sudden release of invisible tension from Ojii-san's body that I picked up from the screen that my Perception had given me. "If I went into ANBU as we planned I won't be able to help Sasuke."

There was ominous silent for a moment, and I was sure that if I had hands at the moment I would've been dragging my finger nails with enough force to break the skin.

Dozens of emotions crossed Ojii-san's face, before he lowered his hands and tilted his hat forward. I was at his side once more, looking at the face that was hidden underneath the shadow of the hat I dreamed to wear proudly.

He was smiling.

Then he turned his chair around, and I wished I could turn to see that smile as the sun set over the sea of green the horizon. A soft melody played, seamlessly adapting to the world. My body got up and was about to leave when my smiling grandfather tossed something backwards through the air for him to catch.

"You'll need that to use that if you want to use that crystal on your wrist effectively." He stated simply, and my body uttered a word of thanks before exiting.

Ojii-san got up the moment the door closed behind my body, and he walked onto the balcony that graced his office. I was still at his side, when he took off the hat and looked upon the mountain that held facsimiles of the villages greatest heroes.

"Sensei…" His voice was a mere whisper, wind gracing the smile on his face, and the music seemed to dim as he spoke to the edifices of out mightiest heroes. "The Will of Fire still burns brightly in this generation."

With those words I was once more in my body, and I wondered if it really mattered if I chose any other path.

Ding!

Suddenly the empty space at the very top center of my screen was no longer empty, a bar that I had seen when I picked that kiddy lock filled up. Thunder resounded, and in bold letters the game declared:

'Speech XP Full! Speech now level 15!'

'You have leveled up! You are now level one! Please assign a skill point!'

'HUD device found! Applying!'

My body moved by itself, and I took out the object that Ojii-san had given me.

They were contact lenses, and before I saw them clearly two fingers immediately dabbed into them and captured the lenses as the casing was thrown away. They were immediately pressed against my irises as I felt an arc of electricity arc from my arm to my eyes.

A shock and I had to grit my teeth through the sudden pain, it felt as if hot metal was pouring through my eyes and in. My vision blurred for a few moments, and even as I blinked I was able to see the shapes forming at the very bottom of my vision, at the center and the right left corners as well as to the right.

After the third blink I was thoroughly aware of the two bars, one red, and one blue off to the lower right and the regular thunder struck as a box of text appeared in the center of my vision with its normal qualities of blurring everything that didn't exactly matter. Since the two horizontal bars encased by thin, bright gray weren't blurred I deduced that it must be what the game was talking about.

'These are your Health and Chakra Bars! The numbers depicted within each bar represent how much Chakra or Health you currently have! Chakra will always refill at 5 per second without perks, and Health will Refill at 0.1 per second during battle and 1 per second outside of battle without perks! Losing all your Chakra will impede its regeneration for an entire minute, if you're not careful, so make sure to use it effectively! Always watch your health though! One second per point may sound pretty amazing but you gain 10 of Health and Chakra every time you level up and dying is never fun!'

Yeah, it isn't, try being on the end of a stalagmite you jerks. I rubbed my stomach idly as the text disappeared and a new one formed, this time highlighting the green bar encased in the same silver as the others in the very center of my screen.

'This is your Stamina Gauge! Unlike Chakra and Health this one refills at 25 points a second after battle and 10 whist in it! It may seem fine and dandy, but the detriments to getting past zero Stamina is much worse! You may not die, but you will be unable to move until the whole gauge is filled, the worst way to a battle! Stamina Gains can only be done with constant draining, and levels will give you no stamina at all! The best way to make sure you're gaining stamina is by sprinting, and climbing and jumping at all times!"

The green bar was situated in the middle of my vision for a reason, I guess I'll still have to train hard… The block was replaced with another, and this one outlined what seemed to be an outline of an orange circle surrounded by hollow orange circles.

'This is your active skill slot! Skills are noteworthy to the character whose life you are currently experiencing and costs no Chakra to use! Instead it utilizes a cool down that only allows it to be used a certain number of times before it is inaccessible for a certain length of time!'

'As a Naruto Uzumaki character type your Active skill is: Kage Bunshin! Make three clones of yourself at a time! Upgrades to this skill include explosive clones, stronger clones, and allowing the cool down to be nonexistent and allow you and entire army of yourself!'

Well… I guess I know where all my skill points went… I would've succumbed to further depression had I realized that I had a blank slate in whatever 'Skills' was and I could hope to change from spamming clones everywhere. Though I wouldn't stop, of course, now that I had a sword four of me would already be plenty awesome!

I was interrupted from my musings by the disappearance of that particular box, and the blurring of the skill box and the appearance of a new pair and the outlining of the largest square with a triangle in it's very middle.

'This is your map! It may be small at the moment, but that because we decided we couldn't let you get too lost and we couldn't cram your entire screen with it! You can find the larger one in your menu, but this one's always present for your use! Use this to find important places such as the Training Grounds, or the Mission Room!'

I blinked rapidly as the final message blurred away and I was left up to my own devices. I took a look at the map, no easy feat as it was literally at the upper right corner of my vision. I was the triangle, and the cone in front of me was probably my field of vision. Stairs were off to end of the hallways, and windows were apparent as well, it was definitely going to be very useful if I needed to navigate anywhere.

Then I was alerted to the beeping sound on my wrist, and I was surprised to see the moment I looked at the crystal device it was surrounded by numerous lines flowing around it, probably a part of . Each line was about the size of my finger and revolved around my arm in a slow orbit, some were gray but the two that were emanating sounds quite clearly were pulsing a deep orange.

I tapped the one of the glowing lines, and the other's immediately disappeared and it became horizontal. Its glow left and it sank into the lattices of the crystal.

There was a pause and a click, then hundreds of lines expanded and left my the crystal all at once, first forming the borders then filling the space of the emerald frame themselves. Though it was only the length of my entire arm, it filled up my entire vision nicely when I held it close.

It's… a lot better than holding the sliver of a crystal up to my face, that was for sure.

'Level Up! 1 Perk Point available!'

'Choose a perk in a skill tree to substantially grow in that area! Choose carefully, and be sure that you'll be able to gain the most advantage from whatever you may choose.'

It was a giant cylinder, a facet for every skill and how far I had progressed into each one.

'Barter: 19'

'Speech: 9'

'Medicine: 14'

'Chakra Control: 10'

'Chakra: 24'

'Sneak: 14'

'Repair: 18'

'Explosives: 12'

'Melee: 17'

'Unarmed: 10'

'Seals: 14'

…it really didn't look all that good besides for my Chakra, I had a feeling that I would need this singular point more than I would think.

A quick skim provided me with the choices I had, and they were nowhere near as good as the array of 'perks' I had to choose from, each one was just a 20 percent rise in effectiveness in the skill with 4 more banks after the first.

I chose to go with 'Melee' though, increasing the effectiveness of weaponry by 20 percent and the moment I chose it the entire cylinder was wiped away and I was astounded by the three branching choices I was to choose next. It seems that after my first choice I was expected to choose in a particular path that had been spoken about.

'Skill Creation Unlocked!'

'Assign 5 points to a mix of these skills!'

'Assassination Skill One: Lethality: Increases damage of critical attacks by one hundred percent! Increases by a hundred every point! Stacks with Dual Wielding and Parry! 0/5 points.'

My neck tingled at the prospect, one hundred multiplied against five was five hundred percent. Anything multiplied against that would be astronomically huge. What can even stand against such damage?

'One Handed Skill One: Dual Wielding: Allows utilization of two one-handed weapons at the same time and increases attack speed of each weapon by twenty percent and increases chances of blocking with each point! Stacks with Lethality. 0/5 points.'

A speed demon prospect but I had my doubts about it, I couldn't imagine using two blades and swinging them around without eating up all of my stamina, I was fairly sure swinging around two chunks of metal was worse than one. The speed would probably just allow me to be drained even faster than I normally would.

'Two Handed Skill One: Parry: Allows you to utilize the 'Parry' function with any two handed weapon, with a marked decrease in effectiveness with any other weapon type! Parry's cost less than blocking and provides an opportunity to cause critical damage up to two hundred percent after it's done with a simple slash! Increase the lethality of this skill with every point! Stacks with Lethality. 0/5'

It was the safest course of action, I knew the importance of making sure blades stayed away from me at all times and it would give me the ability to cause more damage without endangering my stamina. The only problem would be the Ninjato that Iruka had given me, it was fairly long but I had my doubts if it was a two handed weapon as I would need it to be. I would rather not trade it in.

I put in most of the points into the first 4 skill point things into Parry and the last into Assassination. A little offensive power would never hurt anyone after all, and specializing in something to much would render me horribly ineffective in some areas. I would never know when I would need the extra point in damage from Lethality.

A spiral appeared with the word 'processing' underneath it.

'Passive Skill Unlocked: Slightly Lethal High Parry! Parry Enemy Attacks at the cost of your block feature for 10-25 points of your stamina! Cause three hundred percent more damage in your counterattacks! Be careful though! You can't hold a Parry, you'll need to activate this manually before an attack hits you by blocking!'

The box of text coalesced into a small box with what appeared to be an etch very long blade with a drop of blood at its tip against a gray backdrop.

Once the choice was plugged in the bracer returned to its regular shape, and I pressed the other one expecting a cylinder much like the other one.

I was wrong the two icons returned, with the blue tree glowing ethereally as a small plus hovered over its upper right corner. The tree was right next to the sigil of the nine-tails, which was a muted red at the moment.

After a moment, I decided to touch the tree.

The tree's brightness suddenly became lighter and I held to hold my hand in front of my face.

Suddenly, everything was gone and a sense of peace washed over me. The walls disappeared and I was suddenly in a meadow. There was gentle gust of wind, and an other-worldly scent that soothed me in it.

There were three trees in the distance, I was in the middle of three paths standing atop a stone in the most beautiful place I could ever imagine. I looked up, and my breath was taken away.

_Choose._

There was no box, no sound of thunder, only a word that seemed to float in and out of existence from the beautiful starry sky. It was day, yet it wasn't, I was at the apex of the times. Where the beauty of the night was synonymous with the beauty of the day.

I knew that I had three choices, but unlike the simple choice of power as I had gained before, reaching one of the gigantic trees in the distance would change me far more than I could ever hope.

So I looked, and my vision extended.

The very first tree to the north, was similar to where I was. There was beauty and elegance, yet a rawness I couldn't hope to describe. It was strong, and towered over all the rest. Powerful, mighty… things that I sorely felt I was or could be. Maybe it was what I chose before, I remember fighting and laughing, being the center of attention and winning.

I touched my chest, where a gigantic rock erupted from my very eyes. I didn't feel like I could do that again.

I turned, and I was faced with a desert in the distance. It wasn't a tree, it was a gigantic spire that traveled upward. Flowers bloomed at it's very tips, but all around it were dead trees. It's massive roots stretched deep into the ground. It did not nurture, it took for itself and nurtured those it held in esteem.

I wanted those I cared for to be happy, but I could not do unto others such things.

And so I turned to the last path.

It was an elder tree, all around it was snow. It was dwarfed by the others, but nothing existed around it, there was no beauty or majesty. It stood against the world unnoticed, but strong. Nothing else grew where it was, simply lacking the tenacity it had.

I took the step before I could think, and the other paths disappeared as I fell from the rock. The meadow disappeared and an icy chill crawled up my spine as my foot made contact with the snowy ground, a mound of ice was in front of me and ever so slowly a small plant grew from it, a single leaf unfolding against the worlds wishes for it to fall.

…and then the world fell away…

A gentle chime sounded to warrant my attention to the otherworldly script in front of me.

'Controlled Breathing: twenty five percent chance to not use Stamina in an action, ten percent chance to ignore all stamina loss penalties at the cost of five percent of current health, skill becomes unavailable at thirty percent health'

I looked away from my wrist, the boxes disappearing as my statuses reappeared along with the map. My forearm was once more surrounded by lines, but they weren't as noticeable as before without the two glowing ones.

I examined the map for a minute, and a few deductions allowed me to figure out that there was a very easy way to get to the second floor. It would actually only take a few steps, if I was correct. The Mission Center was directly below me, and it would do well for me to start using this map. I hadn't paid much attention to reading maps in my past life, but using the one in the corner just seemed natural.

I opened the window, there was no lock for the inside, and closed it behind me. I dropped onto the ledge, hanging off of my arms, and was happy to find that the window below was open just as the map had said it would be. A small leap forward and I was in the Mission Center, not even drawing a look with my entrance. I would hazard, since hundreds of ninja enter the place daily, my own entrance was hardly noteworthy.

It was as drab as I remember, black and white tiling as flooring, grey walls with a few electric lamps, and a ridiculous amount of people attending to hundreds of scrolls on multitudes of cheap tables. Those tables were mostly off to the east and western sides of the room, though and the south was free with a set of double doors made from similar wood. The north of the room was dominated by a gigantic extended table with more than a few ninja sitting lazily as they waited for someone to accost them for a mission or two from the piles of scrolls they had next to them.

Curiosity compelled me to analyze further, it must have something to do with the intelligence that was now my own. My sight was dragged around, and my breath caught as I comprehended what I was being shown.

The floors were a dark brown, but near the edges were traces of white, the original coloring. The entire room was stained in blood just like the Northern Gates, this time thought it was probably from the veins of allied ninja who had imperative reports to deliver before thinking about their own bodies. Or maybe they were still enemy blood, infiltrators were always heavy even in peacetime and this place must be a huge trap.

There was three doors, all of them similar in design and I had to frown at that that wasn't nearly as introspective as the former. One led to the hallway that had access to the stairs, one led into the room where the scrolls were stored until they could be picked up by whoever sifted through the massive amounts of information and the last one led to the rest of the building.

I blinked rapidly.

There was no rest of the building to my knowledge.

Then I remembered that the Hokage tower was vaguely circular in shape and its mid-section was wider than the rest of the tower, right where the Mission Center was located. A security force hidden in plain sight, ingenious, they could just enter as if they were in there the entire time but were really prepped for immediate defense.

Then my sight was moved to the ceiling and I nearly dropped to my knees.

It was covered in tatami tiles, most of them new but I finally noticed the sifting shadows within them.

"Naruto!" A voice suddenly exclaimed, and I turned to see Iruka attending a desk with a boy my age seemingly just as surprised as I was. I was happy to see Iruka well, but I wondered if he should be working right after confronting a traitor so soon, or even working at all since it the sun was most certainly setting off in the distance. I would gladly think that having detained a man about to make off with the villages secrets would earn a man some time off. "Mind helping out an old classmate of yours with a mission?"

I was shot out of my body once more, the entire array of tools I had been given moments earlier disappearing to be replaced by the Body Language box and the Analyzer Box. I was bemused to find it actually being helpful this time, and my avatar showed none of the fear I was sure that I had when I realized how well defended this place actually was.

The Perception box appeared alongside the analysis, Iruka's breathing was calm and showed no signs of tampering. His hands were folded calmly and held no tension at the wrist or forearm. He was leaning forward, maybe his back was hurting was lightly. There was an easy smile on his face as always, and it didn't seem to betray any of his feelings, he might be hiding something…

'Analysis: Iruka is no fool, don't try anything rash. As an ally he's already proven himself in battle, and that's worth more than rebuffing him for another person who might be stronger.'

Useful, and pretty neat as well. I'd like to know how to approach people before I start speaking to them, would stop from making me sound like a dumbass, Kami knows how many times I spoke with my fists last time around.

My avatar turned on his heel towards them, giving a nod to the other person before standing in front of Iruka. When my viewed was moved to view my avatar, I was perturbed to see him so grimfaced, it probably had to do with my lowered Charisma. Much to my chagrin, it seemed that immediately affected Iruka, his smile became noticeably strained and his back straightened as one hand drifted off its relaxed position.

"A mission, Iruka-sensei?" My avatar asked brusquely, the game not even bothering to give me a chance to say hello or anything. I could tell that I was going to dislike my lowered Charisma, but I could only wonder how high my old charisma was at for me to be able to speak and change other people's minds so freely.

Iruka gave a terse nod and gestured to the boy at the very edges of my point of view, thankfully my view abruptly changed to accommodate the newcomer. Iruka's vitals abruptly left and was replaced by the newcomer's whose hand was already ready to grip my own. I was thankful that my avatar had enough Charisma to return the shake with a nod before resuming to his grimness by crossing his arms across his chest and tapping his foot impatiently.

Wow… I must be coming off as an asshole.

"Wow." The boy remarked, as he put one hand on the back of his head. "You're still a bit of an asshole aren't you?"

There was a strangled noise behind us, and I was treated to the sight of Iruka coughing into his sleeve while making 'go forth' gestures with his free hand without meeting my eyes. I expected my avatar to glare, or even yell in outrage but he just rolled his eyes and… gave a small smile?

The hell?

"Nice to see you too, Guresu-san." My avatar tilted his head lightly, the boy opposite giving a quick grin in return. The line of sight haphazardly changed to capture my avatar's smug expression before suddenly shifting to the friend I couldn't remember."Life treating you well?"

He was must have been from the earlier classes I had taken in this new life, since he was most certainly not 14 as I was. There was an absurd lack of fat on his lean face, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, and his brown hair would probably have been in a disheveled mess if he didn't keep it tied up, save for the ones framing his face. He was wearing a commoner's yakuta colored in the not so commoner color: black with his headband wrapped around his waist. His clothing was torn in a few places and I could see the similarly colored pants underneath the torn hemline. Needless to say, I couldn't see any of the grace that he was named after.

Options appeared, right alongside the Analysis and Perception boxes, it was getting easier and easier to just take a glance at them after seeing two of them work. Guresu was showing signs of fatigue, and he was trying not to fall asleep, and he seemed friendly enough to warrant some sort of relationship, without even taking into account that despite his tattered clothing he had no true wounds bandaged and didn't prefer one limb over the other. He was strong, several leagues above me. I would not win against him it stated quite simply, and I shouldn't try to kill him anytime soon.

I wonder how much of an asshole I would've been if I was only smart in these conversations, Perception was most certainly helping me get to know people more than Intelligence, giving me details about how a person might be feeling (though Ojii-san seems to be able to control it, and Iruka can do the same to a limited degree, so I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket). Intelligence seems so… cold, calculating and seems to just see people as another resource, it was scary in a way.

It makes me wonder if I made the right choice in specializing in it, since I was most certainly feeling the effects of my basic Chakra Control and I supposedly had plenty of knowledge about almost every other skill set to go alongside it. It was supposedly a huge boost in almost every non-combat skill there was, but it was starting to make me feel queasy on how it assigned such callus marks on people.

I shook my invisible head and focused on the new set of choices that was in front of me, funnily enough it was technically within the space between my character and Guresu but I was simply looking onto them off the side like an invisible specter. The village was in the background and it was quite easy to see the villages milling in the background, and when I strained my non-existent ears I could hear some conversations in the background.

It was sorta, kinda neat to be doing this, admittedly.

'Mission.'

'About.'

'More.'

'Exit.'

Well… it seems this game likes single word choices, I couldn't complain now that there was an exit key, though I wasn't going to choose it in any case. 'Mission' would probably just talk about the mission, I had no Idea what 'About' was all… about, and 'More' just seemed like a good idea when I didn't have anything to go on.

So I chose 'More, and the words disappeared as I treated to the side of my character's face.

The smirk fell away and he uncrossed his arms, squaring his shoulders a little, even though it looked a little dumb because of his small frame. It wasn't something that I necessarily noted when I was checking my new body, but it seems the perk 'Small Frame' seems to have literally given me a small frame alongside the attributes it gave. The appearance explained, I focused on my character's voice.

"I would like to know more about why this is all happening." My avatar stated simply, and I wondered if I could mimic that voice if I tried, I remember speaking to Sasuke and the others in the Tutorial but I haven't done anything akin to that yet now. "I'll need all the information you're willing to give me."

"Still the information scrounger, I remember." Guresu smiled as he shook his head, once he was finished he regarded me with what seemed to be some respect. "It's nice to know that some things stay the same, despite time…" He demurred wistfully, though there was an edge of malice in it that wasn't necessarily pointed at me. I took note of the sudden new addition of 'Possibly Betrayed' in Analysis, and the increased rate of breathing that he was clearly displaying (to me). "Do you have anything in mind?"

Fully-faced to my new 'acquaintance', new options popped up.

'Jyu.'

'(Intel. & Per.) Betrayal?'

'Skill.'

'Back'

Betrayal? Et tu, my charismatically retarded avatar? I think I'll save that for later, when I've spoken, I don't know, more than a dozen words to him at least. I wasn't quite sure who would pursue a choice like that… well I'm sure that my older self would probably have asked, but probably just because of Perception. I remember coming to a very quick conclusion when I saw that chopped up boar, then immediately went to rescue Tsunami and Inari with a split decision, so it was worryingly true that I could have chosen such a route without qualm.

'Skill' sounded the like the wisest choice at the moment, and maybe it will lead me to the illusive Training Ground I had planned on visiting after going to see if I truly had access to missions.

"I'm fairly well-off for a Genin," My character spoke bluntly as he crossed his arms once more, going as far as to raise an eyebrow, and I had to hold back another wince as he spoke without inflection or care, just seeking information. "But I can't gather why you'd ask me above someone with better training than others. I'm not telling you I'm not going to join, but I would like to know why I'm going to be sent on a mission that managed to harm an experienced Genin Squad."

Iruka coughed, camera shifting to him and away from my own face to his. He steepled his fingers, after he placed the scroll he had been scanning away, and spoke without meeting my character's gaze.

"As of the moment," Iruka stated slowly, "You're at a very tentative position, Naruto-kun." He shifted lightly and under both information boxes I was succinctly told that he was choosing his words very carefully. "My methods in promoting you are very… strange during peacetime, and requires a bit of convincing to be fully approved. You'll need to show your skills, and show your aptitude for being a Shinobi while being scrutinized." He gestured, my view leveling off to see him point at Guresu. "He can provide the second report on your skills and how you acted on the mission, a surveyor if you will."

"So it's like probation?" My character asked over his shoulder, and Guresu gave a chuckle as Iruka's attempt to sound serious fell away at my avatar's blunt affirmation. I had to give my own chuckle at how he linked the evaluation to something so serious as setting a off on a leash. Given what I had inside me, the irony was not lost on me at all, it was rather humorous in a dark sort of way.

Iruka gave a tired smile, and nodded, resuming his work with the scrolls as three options returned as I faced a smirking Guresu. I was aptly told that he was more relaxed, and I was thankful that my character had a sense of humor. There was hardly a situation where humor was not needed. I had to wonder, if I would still be able to prank people, but I remember such things tapering off when I started my career. I was also quite clearly reminded about my supposedly low relations with my own village, one part due to my status as a Jinchuuriki and the other as simple mistake of dropping the village's culminate knowledge into a pile of horse shit.

So pranks were off limits for now I guessed…

I chose 'Jyu' since I still didn't feel any comfortable talking about possible betrayal just of yet, I couldn't be sure of how Guresu felt just yet. Advice was best taken with a grain of salt, anyways, and there wasn't a grain of doubt in my mind that the two information boxes were best taken as such.

"You're… Jyu." My character said slowly, turning his face towards Guresu and away from its shoulder overlook onto Iruka. "Jyu Guresu, you graduated last year with," His brow furrowed and he placed his chin onto his hand mumbling words in deep thought. "Gyan Waizu and Kyoshi Subete, correct?"

The two boxes went haywire at the words Kyoshi Subete, his pulse increased and his hands clenched as he gritted his teeth. 'Possible Betrayal' went all the way into 'Betrayed by Kyoshi Subete'.

'Speech Level Up! Level 16!'

Yes, yes please shut up.

"It's good that you remembered me, Uzumaki-san." He inclined his head slowly, and I was aghast to find that he was monitoring his words carefully this time and was making visible effort to stay calm. Due to his youth it was nowhere near jii-san's level and he just looked stiff beyond belief. "I'm sure that they will be glad that you remember as well."

He smiled though.

"This will only make working with you easier." He continued on a lighter note, still stiff in voice and movement though my character did not show any feelings beyond taking away his hand form his chin. Jyu gave a rather regal bow that made me wonder where exactly he was raised, and my view stayed on him as the options returned to the ones I had before I chose 'More' and that was gone as well. "I have no doubts that with your help I will be able to accomplish my mission."

'Jyu Relations Increased: Liked!'

Well shucks, if not for the fact that I just learned that a fellow Konoha ninja may have just betrayed another one I would have wiped my invisible nose with my invisible hand and thought about asking Jyu to eat a bowl of ramen.

Why can't missions ever be simple? Why does there always have to be someone getting hurt in the end of it all? In Wave it was Zabuza and Haku alongside all the others who died because of Gato, now I'm knee deep in betrayal of someone who I've undoubtedly talked with and should've died for per our villages traditions.

Dammit, I hope his other teammate was still alive at least.

The only relevant options were 'Mission' and 'About' now, since I had no mind on leaving this alone now. Jyu seemed friendly, and I had a feeling that if I was betrayed I wouldn't stay the same until he got at least a little payback, who knows a few punches to the face gets anyone off their high horse.

I picked 'About', of course. I wasn't too sure whether or not 'Mission' would start me on it right away, and I wasn't about to take any chances. I took plenty of them my last life, and that ended with me getting thrown into a cliff, not rushing things if I could help it.

"So," My character inquired, and I wondered if he felt the same as I did or if he felt nothing at all, since I was technically 'him'. "What does this mission entail, exactly?" He crossed his arms once more, and I was convinced that was my new quirk instead of laughing. "Location, Objectives, Secondary Objectives," He listed off the top of his head. "Don't leave anything out."

Jyu got more stressed, and I glanced worriedly at the sudden influx on the Perception information that was coming through, his neck muscles were tensed behind the skintight material that reached halfway up, and he didn't seem to intent on speaking.

My character continued forward, "I need you to tell me everything, Jyu." He continued without remorse, apathetic to the trembles racking through the boy's body even as the room became quieter and quieter. "What did the enemy use? Why are you the only one here? Why just me? Why just a Genin?"

He was barely a foot away from Jyu now, and apprehension caused my stomach to do back flips.

"I am only a Genin at best, the only people I would be sent would be people I would know how to fight." He paused, and crossed his arms across the white vest, "You've been betrayed, and I'm being vouched because I know them as well." My character accused, shooting a glare into Jyu's eyes that I caught as much as the intentioned victim because I was moved to see it as well. I felt like I was being dissected by cold, blue eyes outlined by green of the contacts I had just acquired.

He took a step back from the trembling boy, and I realized that dozens of warning symbols were popping up in the boxes. Jyu was beyond furious, blood was trailing from his fists and onto the floor from his nails sinking into his flesh.

It would only take a small push…

"So which one of _your _friends betrayed you?" My character asked, and I guessed that was the push that threw the entire train over the cliff.

'Jyu Relations Decreased! Vilified!'

Jyu was so fast, I was sure I only caught his shift into stance because I was not looking from my own eyes. He flowed like water, knees bending as is elbow flowed into my stomach, and through the pain that engulfed my extremity he skid his foremost foot forward and extended his shoulder, driving the appendage deeper into my stomach.

I swear I felt a rib give, and I felt first hand why exactly I could not hope to beat this boy merely a year ahead of me as Jyu's perfect form allowed him a nearly split second attack that was twice as powerful as that elbow.

It was a fist, supplemented by the entirety of his weight, his right leg like a trigger primed to transfer energy with its corded muscles planted firmly upon the ground, cocked over his shoulder as he snarled and covered in rippling Chakra.

It was a majestic hit, and I witnessed it beautifully from my viewpoint just before it made contact with my stomach. I felt blood escape my lips like I spat water, and my white vests abdominal regions disintegrated with the passing force as civilian clothing tended to do when so much force was unleashed upon it.

The only time I remember being hit so hard was when Zabuza's clone kicked me in the abdomen and sent me flying away, but this time I didn't go flying…

Because this time my avatar was gripping Jyu's shoulder, and even as blood poured from his lips the tip of the Ninjato I had pulled from the crystal was at his abdomen, held by one hand even though it's handle was quite assuredly for two hands.

It was quite the stupid thing to note, given the fact I was almost about to kill someone so traumatized he could barely speak about his mission.

Just as I was afraid that my avatar was about to drive the blade through Jyu's stomach the entire screen was blurred by the imposing blue tree that I remember choosing a long time ago, alongside the latter choice of the stylized fox with nine tails. I did not know what the first would do, but I was assured that the second would truly end Jyu's life, because the fox would always revel in bloodshed.

I viewed as blood dripped between my avatar's feet and Jyu's and my stomach clenched in horror as it began to drip behind Jyu's back.

And that tension released when the un-bloodied blade hit the ground and my gaze flowed upward of Jyu's back, onto the arm encircling his torso that belonged to the boy whose lips ran with blood as he held him.

"Get some rest, Jyu." He whispered, and I could hardly believe what I had technically done. Where was the cynical man who counted men as figures? Where was the machine that I thought I had to suffer through? Where did this man of immense compassion come from?

Was this really me?

"You've earned it." He continued even as the Jyu realized what he just did through the haze of anger and his knees gave out from shock alongside his arms. I felt the strain as pain coursed through me, of how he must have felt from holding up someone his same weigh after getting hit by what was a punch that would've destroyed a tree in nay instance.

Could I really do this?

As the Jyu began to weep and apologize, I knew that I needed to.

If only for Jyu and Iruka now, I needed to be this otherworldly being in front of me.

And as I met his eyes, I felt that he approved, and all too-fast I was suddenly back into the aching body as Jyu regained his footing and quickly exited the room, more than a few eyes following his shaky gait.

'Jyu Relations Increased! Idolized!'

'Jyu Unlocked as Companion! Seek him out as a powerful partner in crime! Be careful to make sure he doesn't die or do anything he doesn't want to! He won't be coming back from the former, and he may hate you for the latter!"

'Village Relations Increased! Mixed!'

'While you have your enemies and friends in the village, the attitude is slightly more positive than it used to be! Good for you! Try not to kill anyone important soon m'kay?'

I gave a small chuckle that drew some odd looks from the surrounding ninja. I wiped away the blood on my moth with the remnants of my odd shirt, eying the pulsing health bar that had no more than fifteen points out of a hundred that was slowly climbing back up due to my status as a Jinchuuriki. Eighty five points of damage from an elbow strike and a punch, the game was most certainly not kidding when Jyu complexly outclassed me. Another punch would've ended my short life without question.

My knees were still wobbling from impact, and when I tried to take a step on the brown floor I almost fell over. I was caught, however, by Iruka and his smile was absolutely radiant in its brightness. I would've been happier if I actually did what I had done, and earned his true praise.

I hazarded I'll get plenty of chances to do that in real life though, I've been through plenty of fighting in my last life to know that I would have ample opportunity in advancing through ways I found meaningful later on.

Iruka guided me to the middle door, opening and closing it with speed I could barely follow, and I wasn't surprised to find the set of spiral stairs that he helped me down upon.

It was a simple tiled room, to my easiest observations, but Intelligence quickly pointed out the medical cabinets that took up the majority of the wall, as well as the small chests at the foot of no less than half a dozen-beds. The emergency hospital that I had thought of before the conversation was no longer just an imagined structure, and I was mildly relived that it existed rather than the armory.

Iruka helped me onto the nearest bed, and the moment my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

…

A deep guttural growl filled my senses, primal terror welling inside me as I could not ascertain where or when I was.

"What have you done mortal?!" The voice asked with rage.

I could not answer, and the voice roared in fury that could have broken the world.

"I offered you power!"

I did not offer an answer.

"I offered you a path that will destroy your enemies!"

I did not want to answer.

"You are a fool for refusing me!"

I know I chose correctly.

"You poor fool…"

I am no fool, not this time.

The abyss faded into a more soothing darkness.

…


End file.
